As popular as pork is in America, it is not the United States, but China, that is the number one producer and consumer of fresh pork in the world. Where Wall Street got its name? Free-roaming hogs were notorious for rampaging through the precious grain fields of colonial New York City farmers. The Manhattan Island residents chose to limit the forays of these riotous hogs by erecting a long, permanent wall on the northern edge of what is now Lower Manhattan. A street came to border this wall, aptly enough named Wall Street.  What’s the origin of the saying “a pig in a poke?” The reference is to a common trick of 17th century England of trying to pawn off a cat on an unsuspecting “greenhorn” as a suckling pig. When he opened the poke (sack), he “let the cat out of the bag,” and the trick was disclosed. What’s the heaviest hog ever recorded? A Poland China hog named “Big Bill” weighing 2,552 pounds and measuring 9 feet long with a belly that dragged the ground was owned by Burford Butler of Jackson, Tennessee, in 1933. What’s the origin of the word barbecue? It’s derived from French-speaking pirates, who called this Caribbean pork feast “de barbe et queue”, which translates “from beard to tail.” In other words, the pig roast reflected the fact that the hog was an eminently versatile animal that could be consumed from head to toe. How did “Uncle Sam” come to represent the U.S. Government? During the War of 1812, a New York pork packer named Uncle Sam Wilson shipped a boatload of several hundred barrels of pork to U.S. troops. Because each barrel was stamped “U.S.” on the docks, it quickly became bantered about that the “U.S.” stood for “Uncle Sam,” whose large pork shipment looked to be enough to feed the entire army. Thus did “Uncle Sam” come to represent the U.S. Government itself?  What staple food was provided to Washington’s troops at Valley Forge? Salt pork from New Jersey was shipped behind British lines to Valley Forge to feed the hungry Continental Army in the winter of 1776-77. Where did the saying “living high on the hog” come from? It originated among army enlisted men who received shoulder and leg cuts while officers received the top loin cuts. What’s the origin of the saying “pork barrel politics”? The phrase is derived from the pre-Civil War practice of distributing salt pork to the slaves from huge barrels. By the 1870s, congressmen were referred to as regularly dipping into the “pork barrel” to obtain funds for popular projects in their home districts.

 Did you know that two very important problems were not addressed in the new farm bill? The first is that the quest worker problem was not addressed and will be handled by immigration where agricultures influence may not be all that is needed to fix the problem. The other issue not addressed is the impact that future rule making at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission will have on the farming industry. Congress created the CFTC in 1974 as an independent agency with the mandate to regulate commodity futures and option markets in the United States. The agency's mandate has been renewed and expanded several times since then, most recently by the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000. In 1974 the majority of futures trading took place in the agricultural sector. History demonstrates how the futures industry has become increasingly varied over time and today encompasses a vast array of highly complex financial futures contracts. The CFTC's mission is to protect market users and the public from fraud, manipulation, and abusive practices related to the sale of commodity and financial futures and options, and to foster open, competitive, and financially sound futures and option markets. Like many of the rules in place for Wall Street, the rules tend to protect the process but often offer little protection to citizens on the “outside” of the system. Since the average farmer is “outside” the system, new rules made for the commodity industry may not necessarily benefit the farmer. Special thanks to the National Pork Board for supplying the information about the pork industry and its influence on our history.